Wednesday, 9/19

Without even realizing it, I’ve been doing something I haven’t needed to do since I was a kid. And after thinking about, I’m guessing I’ll probably never stop.

Here’s the deal--a couple of nights ago I walked into my kitchen and noticed there was a large collection of twist ties sitting on the table. You know twist ties, right? The little strips that hold bread bags (among other things) closed? I scooped them up and stuck them into a bag where I keep all my extra twist ties, a bag that was overflowing to bursting, and THAT’S when I realized what I’ve been doing all these years.

I’ve been saving twist ties, just like my mom once told me to.

Don’t worry; my mom’s not strange or anything, although given the way I turned out I can’t blame you for wondering. Nope; when I was a kid, she would pack everyone’s lunches for school and work every day. And since that was back in the 1870s and they didn’t have sandwich bags with resealable closures on them, she would use twist ties to seal up whatever little plastic bags she needed to seal up. Since there were several of us who needed various bags closed, she would go through twist ties quite rapidly. Because of that, they were a precious commodity in our household, and we were instructed to save them and bring them back home with us.

And that's something I’ve apparently been doing ever since, without even thinking about it.

It’s funny how things we do when we’re kids stick with us when we’re adults, even when we don’t need to do them any more. I mean, with the exception of using them to close kitchen trash bags, I really don’t have a need for twist ties any more. Yet here I am, thirty-some years removed from actually having to save them, and what do I do? Every time I have an extra one, I hang on to it and throw it on to the pile. No, I’m not a hoarder and no, I don’t play one on TV.

I’ve just seem to act like one, at least as far as twist ties go.

I wonder how many other little habits and tics, habits and tics to which I don’t even give a second thought, I picked up as a kid? Since they seem like they’re a part of my every day lifestyle, I probably wouldn’t even notice them. But I have to wonder if there was something in my childhood that caused me to pick up strange habits I continue to this day, everything from making up my own (stupid) lyrics to current songs to always handwriting a capital “R” even when it’s in the middle of a word.

After all, if I do it with twist ties, who’s to say I don’t do it with a lot of other things. Now that I think about it, that would actually explain a lot. So if you ever see me walking the street doing something that’s uniquely “me”, remember that it’s not my fault.

I picked it up while growing up.

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And speaking of the people who raised me to become the person I am today (you know, the person who still saves his twist ties), it’s their anniversary today. That’s right; Chicky-Poo and Dar are celebrating another year together. So Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad; I’ll see you for lunch in just a little bit!

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps—don't forget to get your votes in for which picture I'm gonna have on my computer desktop for the next year. The qualifiers and the details are in yesterday's blog, so go ahead and check it out!)